American and Chinese social media users are bonding on RedNote in an ironic twist that could backfire on the U.S. government and its plan to ban TikTok.
In the days before a proposed TikTok ban, Americans calling themselves “TikTok refugees” are flocking to RedNote, a Chinese app with a similar format, and being welcomed with open arms.
Chinese users of the app are greeting Americans and explaining how to use it, while some Americans are learning to speak Mandarin to fit in.
“We Chinese people, we are really kind and heartwarming,” RedNote user RoxyCat said in a video welcoming TikTok refugees, before cheekily warning users not to ever “mix us up with Japanese or Korean.”
Another user cheerfully suggested TikTok refugees must pay a tax to use RedNote – by posting a photo of a cat, a dog or a flower.
Others have been curiously asking questions of the new arrivals, like whether it’s true that in the U.S. people have to work two jobs to survive.
In one video, a man expresses sympathy for Americans’ lack of universal health care.
“I can’t even imagine how anxious you guys are when you get sick. And that’s not right. You should have to feel safe and secure when you are the most vulnerable,” he said.
The TikTok ban is expected to take effect on Sunday, sparked by U.S. Congress raising privacy concerns with Chinese parent company ByteDance and user data being shared with the Chinese government.
But the cultural exchange taking place on RedNote has ironically seen American users expressing newfound sympathies with China.
Popular American YouTube chef Nick DiGiovanni, who speaks Mandarin, made a slick video introducing himself and his RedNote account to Chinese users.
“Right now, I have a very large audience all around the world except for China,” he said, asking for recommendations on what to cook and where to go in China.
I don’t even go on TikTok like EVER. But I downloaded RedNote for funsies and this was the first video I saw and like omg? Okay. I’ll stay ??? <a href=”https://t.co/4DUNxCZObk”>https://t.co/4DUNxCZObk</a> <a href=”https://t.co/I2z5Ridw39″>pic.twitter.com/I2z5Ridw39</a>
—@TreeTimeBek
American “TikTok refugee” @caitlincoopers said in a TikTok video that the most exciting thing about RedNote is American and Chinese users really learning about each other. Marvelling at China’s health care and education, she opines, “everything that we were told about China is completely wrong.”
On other social media platforms, people started to note a warming of attitudes toward China alongside the shift in apps.
“Just downloaded the little red book app,” one X user posted. “This app is going to undo decades of U.S. propaganda. I’m already jealous of their cars. This is what Joe Biden took from you!”
Shift seen as an act of defiance
Known by its Chinese name Xiaohongshu in China, which translates to “Little Red Book” in English, RedNote is a popular lifestyle app with mostly young, female users who document their lives. It started as a shopping app and is widely regarded as the go-to search engine in China for recommendations in beauty, fashion, travel and food.
Users can engage in discussions, share their posts, call each other and purchase products.
Ivy Yang, a longtime RedNote user, China tech analyst and founder of Wavelet Strategy, told CBC News she is seeing a lot of camaraderie and genuine curiosity in the interactions between American and Chinese users on the app.
“I find it to be just heartwarming, but also it’s hilarious,” she said.
But while many of the interactions are lighthearted, she says the shift for many is an act of defiance toward the U.S. government.
“There is kind of this black satire, there’s kind of this dark humour in all of this,” Yang said. “When you tell me that the Chinese government is taking my data and you’re shutting it down because of the perceived risk of that … I’m literally going to a quintessentially like Chinese app, which doesn’t even have English on it, to prove my case that I think this is wrong.”
Yang says the app, like TikTok, is more content-driven than creator-driven, which makes it more likely for a single post to go viral and bring someone followers. She says another similarity, and the driving force behind the app’s popularity, is a sense of community similar to what users describe feeling on TikTok.
A popular Chinese app is the No. 1 most popular social media app in Canada and the U.S. The CBC’s Ashley Fraser explains why content creators are flocking to it as a potential TikTok ban looms in the U.S.
In only two days this week, more than 700,000 new users joined Xiaohongshu, a person close to the company told Reuters.
U.S. downloads of RedNote were up more than 200 per cent year-over-year this week, and 194 per cent from the week prior, according to estimates from app data research firm Sensor Tower. The app surged to the top of the Apple and Android app stores.
Some users have described it as a cross between Instagram and Pinterest, and others have said it has elements of YouTube, X and Google. As of 2023, it had more than 300 million monthly active users, according to Chinese media reports.
RedNote also in danger of being banned, experts say
Lemon8, another social media app owned by ByteDance, experienced a similar surge last month, with downloads jumping by 190 per cent in December to about 3.4 million. It also shot to second place in the Apple store this week.
But Ritesh Kotak, a Toronto-based cybersecurity and technology analyst, says it’s almost guaranteed the U.S. will try to ban these apps, too, if they become popular enough.
“People are looking for some sort of security. They want to know that they’re able to continue to communicate, that their community is going to follow them. And it seems that this is an avenue that has been made available,” he said.
“If you’re going to put all your eggs in one basket and migrate to a new app, just understand that there may be a chance that you may be forced to pivot to another app in the future.”
During a news conference in Delta, B.C., Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre says he previously ordered Conservative MPs, senators and staff to stop using the TikTok social media app because it risks espionage, infiltration and manipulation by what he called the hostile regime in Beijing. Poilievre added he didn’t have anything to announce right now about it.
Brett Caraway, a professor of media and economics at the University of Toronto, says this could turn into a game of whack-a-mole, where the government is chasing people from platform to platform.
He also notes content creators — some of whom make their living on TikTok — will bear costs shifting their businesses to a new app, which can make the switch a risky endeavour when there’s no guarantee it will stick around.
“The end result might be that you just take a large user base and fragment them into many subdivisions and scatter them across any number of platforms, at least until a Canadian or U.S. firm provides a platform that provides the things that users want,” he said.